


hold me while you wait

by buddiebuddie (positivelystisaac)



Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: M/M, nothing to see here folks just two idiots in LOVE
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-15
Updated: 2019-12-15
Packaged: 2021-02-24 16:53:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21801238
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/positivelystisaac/pseuds/buddiebuddie
Summary: See, the thing is, Buck hadn’t meant to do anything stupid. Then again, he never does but somehow always winds up there anyway.
Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz
Comments: 18
Kudos: 437





	hold me while you wait

“Mmfh,” Buck mumbles into his phone, the light from the screen cutting through the darkness in his room like a sharp knife. He screws his eyes closed as he presses the phone to his ear. 

“Uh hey, sorry,” some girl’s voice comes through the phone. He can barely hear her due to the loud music she’s competing with. “This is weird, but I’m a bartender at Molly’s and whoever this phone belongs to left it here. He got kicked out and I guess it fell out while he was fighting—”

“Eddie?” Buck asks, sitting up in bed, suddenly wide awake. 

“I don’t know, dude, look at the caller ID,” the girl says. Buck is already swinging his feet over the side of the bed, scrambling to find a shirt. 

“Right, sorry,” he says, heading down the stairs. He pauses only long enough to shove his feet into his sneakers and grab his keys from the counter, and then he’s out the door. 

“Sorry, I know it’s late,” she says. “But he left in bad shape and I’m pretty sure he’s alone. I just wanted to make sure someone knows where he is since he doesn’t have his phone now.”

Buck thanks her profusely and promises to come get the phone as soon as he finds Eddie. He’s fixated on _in bad shape_ and _alone_ and tries not to panic as he scans the sidewalks for his best friend. He can’t help but feel like this is his fault— his fault for letting Eddie go home alone after the call they had today, for being the reason why the call was so rough in the first place. 

See, the thing is, Buck hadn’t meant to do anything stupid. Then again, he never does but somehow always winds up there anyway. They were called to a car accident on a three-lane road towards the end of shift. All the passengers were fine and it was a straightforward retrieval and transport. Chim and Hen pulled away in the ambulance and Buck and Eddie were in charge of clearing the rest of the scene and getting the middle and right lanes reopened. Traffic had started to pick up again around them, rubberneckers in the left-most lane starting to move a little faster now that the ambulance was gone. 

Buck had his head turned towards Eddie, fully focused on their conversation on the merits of those miniature Reese’s cups that come already unwrapped. He was laughing at something Eddie had just said, so lost in their banter that he hadn’t looked before stepping back into the street to grab a cone that had been blocking off the center lane. He heard Eddie yell his name, and then he was flat on his back, wind knocked straight out of his chest. 

Eddie was beside him immediately, cupping his face as his eyes searched Buck’s body frantically for any signs of injury. “Look at me,” Eddie had demanded, the shakiness of his voice betraying his desire to appear calm. The truth is, he was anything but. His heart was pounding, his hands shaking as he checked Buck over. The fear was running thick through his veins, turning his blood ice cold as the world seemed to stop around him. “Hey, look at me. Breathe, Buck. You have to breathe.”

As Buck struggled to get air back in his lungs, he heard Bobby chewing out the driver who had clipped him. He was barely hit, and the driver was going pretty slow, so all things considered it could have been far worse. But still, he was lying on the ground, still trying to get his breath back, the left side of his face scraped up from the asphalt. He didn’t miss the way Eddie was chewing the inside of his bottom lip, jaw set tight. Or how his fingers were ghosting over the scrapes on his cheek, brushing the loose gravel aside gently. And he was definitely aware of the way Eddie took a long, shaky breath that became caught around the lump in his throat. 

“M’fine,” he had said, voice coming out a little more gravelly than he’d like. He cleared his throat and tried again. “I’m fine.”

“You sure?” Eddie had asked, still holding Buck’s face in his hands. 

Buck nodded. “Promise.” He had brought his own hand up, placing it over Eddie’s as he gave him a look. A look that said so many things, things that carried undertones of a certain three words neither of them could ever get himself to say. 

And then Eddie helped him up, and didn’t say another word until they were back at the station. And then it wasn’t words, so much as it was backing Buck against the lockers in the turnout room. A sharp inhale here and an _oh, fuck_ there as Buck pressed a line of kisses down his neck, fingers yanking at the shirt tucked into his belt, working to free it and ruck it up Eddie’s chest so he could properly get his hands on him. So yeah, not exactly the conversation they needed to have. 

And then shift was over, and they went back to their separate homes as if nothing had happened, just as they always did. Eddie had texted to check up on Buck, who insisted he was fine and that his ego was more bruised than any real body part. They chatted back and forth a little bit, and then Buck had fallen asleep until his phone rang. And now he’s driving through the streets of West Hollywood with a pit in his chest the size of Texas, pleading with whatever god is out there that Eddie’s going to be around the next corner. 

He finally sees him a few blocks from the bar, walking down the sidewalk with his hands in his pockets. He pulls up beside him and rolls down the window. “Eddie!” He shouts, a little bit surprised at the angry tone that comes out. He hadn’t realized he was mad— it’s wasn’t until the panic and fear ebbed out at the sight of Eddie in one piece that the anger rose to the surface. 

Eddie stops in his tracks, turning to face the car. He doesn’t say anything at first, though the confusion written across his face says it all. Buck climbs out of the car at that point. “What the fuck are you doing, man?” he demands. 

“Could ask you the same,” Eddie replies. It’s then that Buck notices his lower lip is freshly split, his right eye swollen. 

“Well, I’m putting your ass in the car and taking you home.” 

“Where did you even come from?” Eddie asks, rolling his eyes as Buck places a hand on his lower back, guiding him to the passenger door. 

“Oh, you’ll love this one. The bartender called me. Seems your phone fell out of your pocket when you were _kicked out of the bar for fighting_.” The emphasis he places on the latter half of the sentence is enough to make it more than clear to Eddie that Buck is Not Amused. 

Eddie groans, resting his head back against the seat as Buck shifts the car into drive and starts heading towards the bar. “Stay,” Buck orders before hopping out. Eddie watches him head into the bar, and notices his shoes aren’t on all the way. His heels are pushing down on the backs of his sneakers,making them into some kind of sneaker/slipper hybrid. He grins at the thought. 

Buck is back within a minute, dropping the phone onto Eddie’s lap unceremoniously. They ride in silence for a few minutes before Eddie speaks up. “You’re mad,” he says. 

“Of course I’m mad!” Buck practically shouts. “You’re fighting again? And you’re wandering the streets in the middle of the night? Two miles from home, drunk and without a phone?” 

“I’m sorry.” Eddie’s voice is small, and not at all what Buck is expecting. He was waiting for Eddie to protest, to insist he isn’t drunk, that he knows his way home, that the other guy started it. Which is why his apology — and a serious one at that— stuns Buck so much that he needs a beat before he replies. 

“You scared me.” The sharp edge is gone from his voice, his words now laced with a certain sense of vulnerability that rarely comes out. “Don’t ever do that again.”

Eddie just nods. They pull up in front of Buck’s building and he throws the car in park. “C’mon, you’re staying here tonight,” he says. “Assuming your aunt is at home with Christopher and you didn’t leave your son alone to go on this little bender.”

“Ha-ha,” Eddie deadpans. “Very funny. But yeah, she’s staying until the new year.” 

Buck gets a glass of water and leads Eddie up the stairs to the top of the loft, where he helps him kick off his shoes and get in bed. “What happened tonight?” Buck asks finally, climbing into bed beside Eddie and placing a hand on his thigh. 

Eddie closes his eyes, taking a deep breath. “I was so scared today. I blinked and you were on the ground and the fear just….” he shakes his head slightly, trying to find the right words. “It felt like Shannon all over again, and I was just—”

His voice trails off and the realization dawns on Buck. Of course. He can’t even imagine the memories and the pain that the events of the day must have brought back for Eddie. And there’s that pang of guilt in his gut again, twisting up and gnawing at him. “I’m so sorry,” he says. “Fuck, Eddie. I didn’t even think—”

Eddie rests his head on Buck’s chest. “I don’t know what this is— what we are— but I know it’s good and it’s right and I don’t ever want it to stop. And today, I was just… I saw it slip away for a second and I lost it. The thought of losing you was just too much.”

Buck‘s heart is racing at Eddie’s words, the confirmation that Eddie feels everything he’s been feeling this whole time almost too much to handle. “Why didn’t you tell me?” 

Eddie shrugs. “Felt like drinking it away, I guess. Which would’ve been fine, until some asshole started mouthing off.” 

“Uh huh,” Buck nods, a knowing smile on his lips. “Isn’t that always what happens?” Eddie doesn’t have anything to say to that, so he just smacks Buck’s thigh playfully with the back of his hand. 

“I love you, y’know,” Eddie says after a few minutes of comfortable silence. He’s tracing lazy circles on Buck’s tee-shirt clad chest, watching it rise and fall steadily with each one of his breaths. “I’m still trying to figure my shit out, but that’s the one thing I’m sure of.”

Buck’s smile practically reaches his ears. “Well, I love you, too. And I’ll wait for you to figure it out. As long as it takes,” comes his reply. 

Eddie leans up, their lips meeting in a kiss. “Hold me while you wait?” 

“Always,” Buck says, pressing a kiss to Eddie’s temple and pulling him close.


End file.
